Abstract

Sufficient laboratory capacity is essential to effective infectious disease surveillance and control. This is recognized in the current International Health Regulations (IHR), which identify laboratory services as a category of core capacities that all the World Health Organization (WHO) Member States are expected to develop and maintain. IHR Core Capacity 8 requires laboratory services for every phase of real-time event management (i.e., detection, investigation, and response), with sample analysis being performed either domestically or through collaboration centers.